Tag
by hannahmanderrr
Summary: The game is supposed to be simple - she's 'it.' She's catching the ghosts. The game gets more complicated when Valerie learns about Dani and Vlad. The game gets turned entirely on its head when the Guys in White grab her off the street and show her something even more startling. Suddenly she's not so sure she's 'it' anymore. (Slight VxD)


Valerie had always found the Guys in White a bit bothersome – butting themselves into situations they had no business being involved in – but she never felt particularly threatened by them. She knew they were aware of her and her vigilante gig, but, in general, they stayed away from her and let her do her thing.

That was, until they led her into a van and carted her away to their facility.

They had no reason to be there, in the park. It had just been the Box Ghost, and in retrospect, he wasn't even doing anything other than being a nuisance. Phantom hadn't even been there. Still, the moment she'd touched down after securing him away in her thermos, two agents practically materialized from nowhere and demanded – or, as they put it, _requested_ – that she come with them immediately.

She had said something along the lines of "okay," but there had definitely been a follow-up to that "okay." Unfortunately for her, there hadn't been much time for her to protest though before one of the agents grabbed her arm and led her into a windowless, white van. She recoiled internally but didn't resist otherwise. She didn't really want these guys on her case more than they already appeared to be.

The first goon's partner jumped into the driver's seat while he sat her down in the back and slipped something over her helmet that made the world go dark and quiet. "For security reasons," he assured her.

It did nothing to calm her nerves. She'd read about these kinds of special masks before. They were supposedly used by agencies like the CIA and the FBI to transport prisoners, specially designed to block out all vision and hearing. She didn't appreciate being treated like a prisoner when she hadn't done anything wrong (as far as she knew), and she didn't hesitate to voice her displeasure. She was only met with the sound of her heart echoing in her ears.

Valerie didn't have the best internal clock, but she guessed it'd been about 20 or 30 minutes before the van came to a stop and her babysitter lifted the mask from her head. She tinted her visor immediately; the stark whiteness of the garage they'd pulled into was disorienting, especially after being left in the dark for so long. The full tint at least helped alleviate some of that.

_No wonder they wear sunglasses all the time_, she thought.

She was handed off to a third agent, who barely gave her a warning before setting off into the facility proper. They walked no more than a hundred yards before coming to a security checkpoint. The agent swiped her badge and easily stepped through the detector before the security guard turned to Valerie.

"You'll need to remove your suit," he said. "Visitors are not permitted to have weapons in the facility."

Her alarm bells had been going off ever since the GIW approached her, but they started ringing at full volume after hearing that. Being without her weapons was one thing, but her suit entirely? That thought was unsettling.

It was deluded of her to think she had anything resembling a secret identity around them. They were government; the minute she'd debuted herself, they'd probably poured a number of resources into finding out who she was. They probably had fingers in many areas of her life. If she didn't comply, they could ruin her life far worse than any ghost ever had. They thought was terrifying, and Valerie Gray didn't do terrified.

Even still, having her suit and helmet on was comforting. The armor was fairly strong; should worst come to worst, she could at least defend herself and be protected, but it was more than that. With her helmet on, she could pretend they didn't know anything, that she was just some faceless vigilante. In the back of her mind, she knew it didn't matter in the long run, but it still felt nice to pretend.

She pressed a button on her gauntlet, and she immediately felt the power in her suit dwindle away. "There. I deactivated everything," she told the guard, deciding not to mention certain features that _couldn't_ be deactivated. "The suit is staying on, though."

The guard opened his mouth to protest, but the agent cut him off. "Leave it," she said. "We're on a tight schedule. We need to get her to O, now."

Valerie didn't like the fact that she was being taken to Agent O, but she didn't have time to think about it before the guard ushered her through the detector and handed her a temporary badge. Once again, the agent set off down the corridor without another word, leaving Valerie to play catch-up.

She was taken aback by how maze-like the facility seemed to be. Endless hallways with white linoleum, stark walls, and bright, fluorescent lighting. She tried to study the route they were taking, searching for any identifying characteristics on the walls and doors. Cameras, room numbers, anything really. It turned out to be extremely difficult; everything was bare and unmarked. Absentmindedly, she wondered what their security system was really like. A place like this had to have one, right?

As they continued, she got fidgety. She wanted to pull out a gun and tinker with it or something. Although her father was less than happy about it, poking around her weapons when she was agitated was something along the lines of a coping mechanism for her. It helped take her mind off things with the added bonus of learning more about her technology, sometimes not even on purpose. Right after her breakup with Danny, she'd been messing around with her ecto-rifle so much that she'd accidentally increased its firing speed two-fold. She'd immediately done the same to the rest of her weapons.

Calling up a weapon probably wasn't the best idea, though. Even though they were technically powerless at the moment, the agent probably wouldn't take too kindly to her fiddling with a gun. As much as she hated it, she needed to keep quiet and compliant for the time being.

Without anything physical to distract her, her thoughts began escalating and bouncing around in her head more and more. Why did Agent O want to see her so bad? Why go through the trouble of tracking her down and using the mask on her and everything? Had she seriously done something wrong?

She couldn't think of anything she might've done that would've offended them. In fact, she hadn't been doing as much as of late; ghosts were showing up with less frequency than they had when she first started, and the ghosts that did come out of the Ghost Zone tended to be hard-hitters who were specifically looking to pick a fight with Phantom. In other words, she hadn't had as much hunting to do recently. As much as she enjoyed hunting, she had to admit the relief was welcome. Her grades were slowly starting to pick up and her dad was much more pleased with her behavior.

_Oh God, how am I gonna explain this all to Daddy?_

Her thoughts were so consuming that she almost collided with her escort, who'd stopped suddenly. They were standing in front of a door, unmarked just like every other one she'd seen so far. The agent didn't say a word as she pulled the door and held it open, staring at her emotionlessly. Valerie couldn't see her eyes behind the sunglasses, and she couldn't help but wonder if there was a different, darker reason for wearing them.

Hesitating just slightly, she entered the bare room. It was no less white and lit than the hallways she'd just come from. There was no furniture; a door and a large, frosted glass window took up most of the back wall. Some sort of interrogation window, maybe one of those fancy, one-way mirror things, she figured.

The only other thing in the room was the man who apparently was so desperate to see her, Agent O. He was tapping at something on a tablet, but he looked up when he heard Valerie enter. He smiled, but there was no warmth behind it. "Hello, Valerie," he greeted.

It took a great deal of her willpower to resist the urge to flinch at the use of her name. She knew that it was coming sooner or later, but it was still unsettling to have them calling her by her true name. It hit far too close to home and made the situation even more real. She silently thanked herself for tinting her visor; it did a wonderful job hiding her true emotions.

"Thank you for coming in today," Agent O continued, oblivious to her worry. "We apologize for the lack of notice, but this situation was completely unprecedented. We believe it may require your certain… expertise. There wasn't much time for formalities or contacting you to set up an appointment."

Valerie crossed her arms indignantly, her old stubbornness showing through her nervousness. "It's not like I had much choice," she grumbled.

"Yes, well, as I said, this is a situation of sensitive and urgent nature. We couldn't afford to waste time going through niceties," he said, unfazed by her displeasure.

"What could be so urgent that you need to track me down personally and practically kidnap me?" Valerie asked unabashedly.

If possible, Agent O's face hardened just slightly. "I will remind you, Valerie, that you came with us willingly. There was no kidnapping involved."

Valerie frowned. The hidden message was clear: she couldn't go tattle on them if she felt inclined to do so. Who could she tell anyway? These guys were government, and not exactly well-known government at that. There wasn't much she could do to peg them.

"Some interesting information has recently come to light about a certain ghost, information that some of our scientists are having difficulty wrapping their minds around. We believe your more intimate knowledge of the ghosts of Amity Park may be of value to us," Agent O said, scrolling on his tablet. The glare of the screen reflected off his dark sunglasses lenses.

Valerie resisted the urge to make a snarky comment about how a teenager knew more than a whole team of adults whose lives were dedicated to this sort of thing. Instead, she asked, "What sort of help to you think I could be?"

The corners of Agent O's mouth twitched upwards. "What do you know about ghosts with human identities?"

_That_ made her freeze.

Her encounter with Danny Phantom's cousin and Vlad had only been a few weeks ago, and she'd spent those past weeks agonizing over what had happened and the implications. It was hard enough knowing that these sort of ghost-human hybrids - or whatever they were - existed, and then she had to go and discover that the man she trusted had been using her this entire time. She wished she had someone to talk to about it, but no one knew of her secret identity. The Fentons may have known something about the subject, but they could be overbearing at times. And there was no way she could talk to her father, who still didn't fully approve of her ghost hunting. He would flip a lid if he knew the truth.

There was one person she knew had the answers and could maybe help her process through it, but there's no way she'd admit she needed his help in a million years.

Despite her mental turbulence, she was smart enough to realize that she held dangerous knowledge. She couldn't go blabbing about it to anyone, not the authorities or even the other ghosts. She had a distinct feeling she was never supposed to know about this ghost-human thing in the first place, and a part of her wished she'd never found out at all.

She still wasn't sure how to feel about the idea of these kinds of ghosts, the ones that weren't truly ghosts. She'd hated ghosts vehemently for so long, it was difficult for her to think they could be anything but trouble. Dani, of course, had proven her wrong (with a little encouragement), and her cousin made a good point that it wasn't just the fact that they were ghosts, they were humans too, but just how far did that go? It wasn't an issue with Dani, but Vlad was clearly a monster of a person. She didn't feel any remorse for him.

And yet something held her back. She hated to admit it, but Danny Phantom had pegged her that night: she had no problems with destroying ghosts, but she couldn't bring herself to destroy a human, even if they weren't fully human. As long as there was some human there, they couldn't be all that awful, right? But such logic countered her long-held beliefs.

It gave her a headache just trying to reconcile the two. Most days, she avoided thinking about it. It wasn't her problem, it _shouldn't_ be her problem. And yet she was standing here, having been dragged into it again.

Without moving her head, she glanced towards the window. Was it possible they found _another_ ghost that was also human? Or did they get to Dani? The thought of that little girl being held captive in this facility caused her stomach to drop.

A chill ran down her spine as she wondered if it could be Vlad behind that window. She didn't want to face him; she'd strategically avoided meeting with him these past few weeks on purpose. And if the Guys in White could get their hands on a powerful ghost like Vlad… She wasn't sure how to feel about that.

She forced herself to calm down. Agent O had said _ghosts with human identities_. That didn't necessarily mean that it was one of these hybrid type ghosts. It could be a ghost like Spectra, who disguised herself as a human therapist, or Ember McLain, who posed as a pop star. In retrospect, there were several ghosts who'd pulled one over on the people of Amity Park, and they'd all had a number of tells that should've given their identities away. Maybe they just wanted to talk to her about this sort of thing. She knew enough about ghosts and their interactions with humans to spot their tells; she could easily give this information to the Guys in White and be done.

Agent O was watching her carefully. She was taking a long time to answer his question, and she knew he was getting suspicious. Taking a deep breath, she said, "Well, Amity Park has had a lot of ghosts that have posed as humans to try and get to us. It's a fairly common tactic, and overall, people have gotten better at finding them, but – "

Agent O waved her words away. "Yes, we know all about them. I'm talking about human identities on a deeper level. Possibly to the point where they may not be as ghostly as they seem."

Once again, she had to use all her willpower to avoid cursing out loud. _Stay calm, think logically_, she told herself. She couldn't afford to screw up here. She didn't want them knowing she knew way more than she should. It was every possibility that it was just some random person behind that window with some obscure connections to ghost activity, or maybe some dumb ghost trying to be cool that ended up getting captured. It was very possible that she could walk away from this without revealing anything.

She channeled all her middle school theater experience into her performance. Knitting her eyebrows together (despite the fact Agent O couldn't see her face) and putting on her most innocent voice, she said, "I'm not quite sure I'm following you."

Agent O turned back to his tablet. "Valerie, you're a smart girl. Consider this with me: what if there was a specific breed of ghost that could disguise itself beyond the poor masquerades we've seen so far? One that could take on the physical attributes of a human in order to hide? This may not even be a matter of disguising, either. This could mean the existence of interspecies hybrids with humans, something unheard of throughout history."

He scrolled and tapped until he found what he was looking for, turning the tablet around to show Valerie. She wasn't much of a scientist, so she wasn't quite sure what he was showing her, but she could definitely see a strand of DNA in the diagram. There was something off about it, though. Parts of it were discolored and disfigured.

"This is from a sample taken from a ghost's bodily ectoplasm right after a fight in Amity Park. Needless to say, we were quite surprised to find actual DNA in the ghost's proverbial blood, considering ghosts are held to not have DNA. We were even more surprised to find that parts of the DNA we found made up genomes resembling that of a human's," he explained as she observed the diagram.

The diagram and the agent's explanation suddenly made the situation even more real to her. Once again, her mind drifted back to Dani and Vlad. Was this what their ectoplasm looked like? Or even their human blood? Swimming with the genes of a human and the traits of a ghost? And just how many others were out there with this same type of ectoplasm?

She glanced up at Agent O. "How can someone be human and ghost at the same time? It's like being dead and alive at the same time." Of course, she knew it was perfectly possible, though she still didn't understand how.

The agent frowned. "We're not entirely sure. Our scientists are still working on their analysis of the ectoplasm and working through their theories. That's not entirely important right now, though. What is important is that it _is_ possible. Just think of the implications."

She was thinking of the implications. The thought that there could be more of these kinds of ghosts nauseated her only because she relentlessly shot at just about every single ghost she came across. She couldn't stand thinking that she'd come close to accidentally destroying a human being, part ghost or not. For the sake of the situation, however, she pushed those thoughts away. Instead, she said, "You mean there could be ghosts hiding under our very noses and we wouldn't know about it?"

He nodded. "Exactly. But think beyond just that. This could be used to our advantage. A military weapon, far more advanced than any technology on the market right now. A soldier able to sneak up on the enemy without being noticed, one who can't be touched by bullets, and be able to take them out with his bare hands. If we can learn to replicate this," he said, shaking the tablet, "our army would be unstoppable."

"Isn't that kind of illegal?" she asked. "Taking people and doing that to them?"

The agent's look was dark. "Forgive me for sounding brash, but it would give purpose to some of the more… _undesirables_."

Now Valerie really felt like throwing up. Feelings of ghosts aside, taking innocent (or even not-so-innocent) people like that and forcing them to turn into some strange half-human creature and _then_ conscripting them to fight in the army against their will… It was sickening. Horrifying, really. She couldn't believe these words were coming from the mouth of an American government agent.

She couldn't let that happen. Not on her watch.

She took a few deep breaths to calm her anger and her twisted stomach. "I hope you know I'm not here to do your dirty work for you," she bit back at him.

Again, he was unfazed by her outrage. "We're not asking you to do anything like that, Valerie. That's our job. However, you'll be doing a great service to your country today either way. You'll help us get to where we need to be."

"How so?" She really didn't want to hear whatever he had in store for her.

"The ghost we found is being extremely uncooperative. It refuses to tell us anything, even after multiple attempts at eliciting information, shall we say," he said.

The use of the word 'it' to refer to the ghost was not lost on Valerie. The suggestions of torture weren't lost on her either, and it only fueled her anger. If this ghost truly was part human, then these guys really were breaking the law.

"You've encountered this ghost before during your time in Amity Park," Agent O continued. Somehow, she wasn't surprised, though her heart sank just a little more. "We believe that a familiar face may be able to persuade the ghost to give us our information and reveal to us its human identity. We want you to go in there and get us what we need."

She'd figured as much. He was right when he said she wouldn't be doing the dirty work of beginning to replicate the mutation and experimenting and all that, but she was practically doing just that by agreeing to interrogating whatever ghost they had. "What if I don't want to?" she asked, deciding to avoid beating around the bush.

Agent O fixed her with a look. "You don't want to make this difficult on you and your family, Valerie. We're only asking one simple task of you."

Oh, _hell _no. He did _not _get to threaten her father like that. They couldn't just use him as a bargaining chip like that.

And yet there wasn't much choice for her. She couldn't put him in that position.

She exhaled and slouched visibly. The victorious look in the agent's eyes bothered her to no end. "Fine. I'll do it. But you better not even so much as look at my father or I'll bring this place down." She felt stupid saying it. He had her number; unlike his, her threat was empty. He nodded, satisfied.

"Who is this ghost you have anyway?" she asked.

"Ah," he said, turning to his tablet once more. "I'll show you." He tapped a couple of buttons and the frosted glass of the window became clear. Valerie's knees almost buckled when she saw the ghost bound to a metal chair.

A shock of white hair. A logo plastered around her city. Alien green eyes burning with terror.

Her face burned red under her mask. Whether it was from anger or shame, she couldn't tell. Something inside of her was paralyzed to the point where she could only hear white noise echoing in her head. She was only vaguely aware of Agent O watching her carefully, but she didn't exactly care at the moment.

She had to get in there and talk to him.

But even as she walked through the door and met Danny Phantom's horrified gaze, she wondered how she was going to make it through this.

* * *

Danny liked to think of himself as a brave guy. Since starting this superhero gig, he'd gotten into some terrifying situations. Watching his family explode at his own hands was pretty bad. Or almost dying as he tried to keep the most powerful ghost in existence locked up. Or even that time Sam almost killed him for accidentally letting the little ghost dog use her favorite skirt as a toilet. He'd survived all of those and bounced back from them fairly easily.

He had to admit to himself, though, that he'd never been this scared in his life.

As quietly as he could, so as not to get the attention of the two agents assigned to guard him, he tested his bonds for what had to be the tenth time. They still held fast against his hands and ankles.

He didn't like having his hands tied behind him. Every survival instinct that came with his ghostliness screamed that it left his torso very vulnerable to an attack. Not only that, but the hands were what he could defend himself best with. Hands behind the back was a universal sign of surrender and submissiveness in ghost body language. You couldn't fire an attack at someone from behind your back, and you were leaving yourself open to your opponent. You were putting yourself at the mercy of the other.

It was an instinct and an implication he couldn't ignore, especially because the Guys in White were the kind of people who wouldn't hesitate to put a scalpel to him. Thankfully, they hadn't gotten that desperate yet.

_Trying to break my hand, electrocution, psychological warfare,_ he thought dryly, _but no vivisection at least._

Admittedly, it was getting harder and harder to keep his mouth shut in more ways in one. The more stressed out he got, the snarkier he got. It was a defense mechanism, Jazz once told him. It was an attempt to mask his anxiety and fright using humor and sarcasm, apparently. He wasn't sure if he believed her (or any of her psychobabble about him), but if it was true, it was definitely working to hide how he really felt. Of course, his sass just antagonized the agents interrogating him and made them push harder.

But it was also getting harder to keep quiet about the information they wanted. Namely, his secret. He had no idea how they figured it out, but they kept telling him they had proof of his dual nature. That revelation itself almost shut him down right then and there, but he worked hard to vehemently deny the accusation. His identity was his most carefully guarded secret; it was tiring work, trying to keep Phantom and Fenton as separate as possible. Thankfully, they hadn't mentioned anything about Danny Fenton yet, but they hinted that they knew he had some sort of human form. Part of the torture had been to get him to change into his human form, in fact.

The fact that they didn't know too many of the details about the whole half-ghost thing was somewhat reassuring, and it helped him stay quiet. The less they knew, the better, and he wasn't about to add to their arsenal. He was sure they had a bunch of science nerds foaming at the mouth trying to work out more, but that process would take more time than him spilling the beans.

If he had to stay here and endure to keep the secret, then so be it. He couldn't put Dani in danger like that. He hated to admit it, but he couldn't even put Vlad in danger like that. As much as he hated the guy, betraying him like that went against every single one of his moral codes.

And so he sat in that chair with his arms and wrists growing sorer by the minute, terrified out of his mind. Agent O, the guy who had been doing the bulk of the interrogation so far, had left awhile ago without explaining where he was going. It had to have been at least an hour since he left, Danny figured, but he'd lost track of time a long while back.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the door opened. Danny straightened, expecting to meet Agent O and face him with more tenacity than before.

What he didn't expect was for Valerie Gray to march in and slap him across the face.

He could only stare at her, flabbergasted, as she jabbed a finger into his chest. "You dirty liar," she growled, the sound of her voice distorted by her helmet. "After all this time, and you've been lying to me since day one."

Danny's heart sank. They had to have told her. She probably put two and two together already, given what he'd told her about half-ghosts and their encounter with Dani. He'd hoped that experience had warmed her up to him a little bit, but any progress he'd made with her had just been undone in an instant.

She was taking the revelation far worse than he'd hoped.

Agent O had entered the room silently and was standing in the corner with his hands behind his back. He watched the two teenagers with mild interest, but his face was mostly unreadable.

Valerie turned to him. "I need to have a minute with him alone," she said, her voice hard. "We need to have a heart-to-heart."

"Anything you have to say to it can be said in front of us, Valerie," Agent O replied calmly. Danny found it interesting that Valerie used the word 'him' while Agent O used the word 'it' in reference to himself. He absentmindedly wondered if it meant anything.

"No," she said. "This is personal. You knew that when you brought me in here. If you want me to do this, then you leave us alone. No guards, no cameras, no nothing. This is just between me and him."

Danny watched the argument unfold. It would make sense that the government goons would want to be a part of whatever happened in here, but he didn't understand why Valerie was being insistent on not having them around. Normally he'd think she didn't care whether they saw or not.

Agent O was also watching Valerie intently. "We need a way to record the information you're getting for us," he said. The calm in his voice annoyed Danny just as much as he knew it drove Valerie crazy. "You're asking us to simply take your word for what happens in here."

"What, you think I'm gonna lie to you?" Valerie retorted. She turned back to face Danny, and a chill ran down his spine. Seeing her like this, with her mask so dark and anger just radiating from her body, was haunting. His heart shattered when she started speaking again. "There's no way I'm gonna lie to protect _him_."

He shouldn't have been surprised, but it still hurt more than any physical torture to hear the girl who said she'd give up ghost hunting for him say that to his face.

She looked at Agent O again and pointed to her helmet. "I have recording equipment set up in this thing. If you guys are so desperate for your information, I'll give it to you after I'm done if anything interesting happens, if you won't take my word for it."

Agent O considered this, all while still staring her down. As hurt as he was, Danny was in awe at the way she refused to back down to this man, both in argument and in her body language. It was one of the many things about her that caught his attention. Too bad in this case, like many others, this steadfastness was being used against him.

The agent finally nodded his head. "Alright. You can have it your way. But we'll expect you to submit to a full debrief afterwards, including surrendering that helmet."

"Deal," Valerie said, a little too eagerly for Danny's tastes, and she stuck out a hand for Agent O to shake. He took it, and Danny saw the muscles in his hands tense as he squeezed the hand harder than he probably should. Valerie, however, still did not waver.

After realizing that she wasn't going to show any sign of discomfort, he let go of her hand and pulled up the tablet by his side. He tapped a couple of buttons, and Danny saw the tiny blinking red light in the corner of the room die down. "Cameras and audio have been disabled," Agent O said. He turned to Danny's babysitters and waved them out of the room. Before he exited and closed the door, he gave Valerie a pointed look. "Remember who you're doing this for," he told her darkly, and he shut the door, leaving Valerie and Danny alone.

Danny was taken aback by the tone the agent had used on her. "Valerie, are they threatening you?" he asked. It was the first thing he'd said to her since she'd come in.

Apparently speaking had been a mistake. She whirled on him with an accusatory finger pointed at him, saying, "_Don't_ act like you care about me, Phantom!" Her voice had suddenly grown hoarse and cracked. "You don't care about anything except your own hide!"

So he was Phantom. He couldn't exactly tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. "Look, I know how this all seems to you," he said, trying to keep his voice as calm and placating as possible without seeming condescending, "but I never meant to hurt anyone, especially you. Can't you see that?"

He was surprised when she took off her helmet and dropped it with a clatter. His heart sunk when he saw just how upset she was. Her face was pink and blotchy, her eyes were bloodshot, and there were actual tear stains on her cheeks.

In all the time he'd known her, he'd never seen Valerie Gray cry.

"Just because you may not have meant to doesn't mean you didn't," she said. "All this time I've been hunting you down, and you didn't think it was important enough to tell me?"

"In my defense," he began, a little miffed by her arrogance, "it isn't exactly something I go around telling everybody, you know? Especially people who are always yelling about how much they hate me. Frankly, I didn't think you'd handle it all that well."

If possible, Valerie looked even more hurt. "You seriously think I would hurt a human? Who do you think I am?"

"I didn't know if you would care about the human more than you hated the ghost," Danny snapped. He hated having to explain himself to her like this. Under these circumstances.

"So that's it then? I'm just some heartless monster who resorts to shooting first, no matter what?"

Danny didn't answer. He knew she wouldn't. The Valerie he knew _would _care. She'd be upset, but she'd try to be reasonable and talk it out before making any rash decisions. Of course, that was the Valerie that Danny _Fenton_ knew, and as of now, she still didn't know about that. The Valerie that Danny Phantom knew was a ruthless hunter, capable of being reasoned with, but only in extreme circumstances.

He took a deep breath. "The issue is that I really don't know you all that well," he said, avoiding her eyes. At this point, every word that was coming out of his mouth was a lie, and he knew it would come back and bite him in the butt. "I've only interacted with you when you're trying to waste me. That doesn't exactly invite much confidence."

"But I helped you with your cousin," she countered.

He squeezed his eyes shut. He hated what he was about to say. "Yeah, but even when you found out about who she was, you had no problem turning her over to Vlad. I had to convince you to go back and help me rescue her."

She was quiet for a long time, her lips pressed into a thin line. Another tear trickled down her cheek, but she made no move to wipe it away. "That was when I trusted him."

"What are you talking about?"

"I found out he's been lying to me this whole time, too," she said. "Just like you, apparently."

He felt a pit growing in his stomach. There was no way this was gonna end well, but he had to know. "You're gonna have to be more specific."

She started pacing in front of him, slowly. "I went back, after you and Dani left. I heard him talking to his AI of Mrs. Fenton. I saw him transform." She stopped abruptly and looked at him. "But I'm sure you knew all this, right?"

Danny found himself reeling. After all the lengths Vlad went to in order to protect his identity, after their conversation about their stalemate, and she found out that easily? It seemed impossible. Vlad had always been the untouchable type.

"And now to find out that you've been lying to me too, about the exact same thing!" Valerie was still saying. "Don't you understand? How that feels?" She scoffed. "Never mind. What am I saying? Of course you don't. You only care about yourself."

He hadn't caught up to what she was saying to process her accusation. His brain was still stuck on the Vlad revelation, and rightfully so. The things Vlad could do to her if he knew his secret was blown… It was less about saving his own hide at this point. He knew his own secret was toast. But Vlad was a powerful man, and Valerie was nothing but a disposable pawn to him. He'd made her into who she was; he could do the same to another unsuspecting victim. She could be removed from the picture easily. The thought sent a horrifying chill down Danny's spine.

"Does he know that you know?" he asked.

She furrowed her brow. "Does who know? About you?"

"No, Vlad! Does he know you found out about him?"

She opened her mouth, probably with some biting comment on her tongue, but she left it hanging open. In the days to come, Danny would wonder what came over her or what caused her to change, but he saw her soften before his very eyes, just ever so slightly. Maybe it was the desperation in his voice, or her own realization of the danger, or even just exhaustion. Whatever happened, her eyebrows lifted and the creases near her eyes smoothed out just a little bit. The angry gleam in her eyes died down to a skeptic glare, still heated but with a little less fire. "No," she said slowly, watching him carefully.

He released a breath he didn't realize he was holding. He didn't miss how Valerie's eyes shot down to watch his chest deflate, but he tried to ignore it. "Good. You can't let him know that you know."

The hardened, angry look returned just as fast as it had disappeared. "I know that, I'm not stupid," she retorted. It may have just been his imagination or some sort of delirious hope, but her voice sounded a little less harsh than it did when she'd been ranting a moment ago. "Besides, this is about you, not him. I mean, you lied to me about both of you anyway. And you probably would've lied to me about Dani too if you could've."

"I was trying to protect you," he said, and he instantly regretted it. He hated having to be on the defensive like this, especially when it came to verbal arguments. He tended to get too caught up in the moment and make stupid comments like that one. Ghost fighting was so much easier; no tactful arguments involved, just good old physical fighting with a snarky quip thrown in every now and then.

He braced himself for the tirade coming his way. She was sticking him with one of her worst death glares. The tears had stopped, giving way to pure rage.

"_Protect_ me?" she seethed. "I don't _need_ protecting. I don't need protecting from anything. And even if I did, I especially don't need protecting from _you_ of all people. That would be like – like you holding a gun to my head and telling me that you're taking care of me. You say you were trying to protect me? Well look where we're sitting right now! Tell me how stellar of a protector you are now."

He hesitated. She was right. For all that he'd done to shield her from the complicated underlying truth, he'd failed. Failed miserably, at that. Here he was, tied to a chair with his secret identity hanging on by a thread, and there she was, driving herself crazy with all the new information she was being forced to deal with. Neither of them were in a favorable position. It killed him so much to have to see her like this. It only served as a bitter reminder of his inability to protect her, whether she wanted the protection or not.

"You… you're right," he said, bowing his head. "I did a sorry job of it. And you're your own person. You're capable of defending yourself. I can't control you, or what other people do, or anything. I couldn't stop either of us from ending up here, and I couldn't stop you from finding out about Vlad and Dani. I just wanted you to be able to live as normal as possible and not have to deal with all of… this."

She barked a sorrowful laugh. "Putting aside the fact that I refuse to believe you care about me whatsoever, normal hasn't been a thing for me ever since you showed up."

"It's not like I asked for this either, Val," he said. His mouth was beginning to get ahead of his brain, but he couldn't stop the words from coming out. "I haven't had normal for a long time either. I've had to deal with this stuff since day one, ever since I became what I am. I just figured there was no sense in both of us having to deal with it."

"That's not your decision to make!" she shouted. She cupped her mouth with her hand, pausing a moment before speaking again. "This is why I can't trust you! You literally just went on and on about how I'm my own person and you can't control me, but you talk about deciding what I should and shouldn't know. Every other word that comes out of your mouth is some sort of lie or trick, and you expect me to be able to trust you? Or believe that you actually have my best interests at heart or something?"

This conversation was going absolutely swell, he decided. All he was doing was talking himself into a hole. He needed to convince her that he was on her side; whether or not he got out of here, he needed her to know that he never meant her any harm. Even back when he hated her.

She wasn't going to listen to anything Phantom had to say, that much was clear. She was too hurt and angry. But he still had one last card to play and use to break through to her. The only issue was he had no clue whether revealing himself as Fenton would make things better or worse, especially now.

She was staring out the one-way window. He watched her reflection carefully. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her shoulders were creeping forward and up towards her ears. As angry as she was presenting herself and as loud as she generally was, this was the smallest he'd ever seen her.

"The worst part is that I did start to believe in you for a moment there," she said after a long time. Danny looked up in surprise, taken aback by the admission, but he kept his mouth shut. He needed to hear more.

Sighing, she continued, "Everything that happened with Dani shook me, alright? And it wasn't just finding out about her and Vlad. You were almost the weirdest thing about that night. The way that all you could focus on was saving your cousin when I was ready to rip into you. You were just so determined to save that little girl that you didn't care what happened to you. And I saw you when she disintegrated. You just… you seemed absolutely devastated. And then after all that, you stayed behind to keep up your end of the deal. You just willingly offered yourself up to me. I think I was so surprised that I just let you go. I didn't know what else to do.

"And I kept thinking about it, too. I had no clue what to make of it. It went against everything I knew and believed about you and other ghosts. For awhile there, I started to think that maybe you hadn't been lying to me; that maybe you really were different from the rest and that you did care."

She shut her eyes. "And now come to find out that you were lying to me the whole time. About who you were and everything. When they showed me you sitting here… I didn't know what to think. It felt like I'd just been stabbed in the back. It was just… I felt betrayed. _So _betrayed. More than I had with Vlad. I have no idea why, but it felt like I maybe was beginning to understand. Turns out you were just playing me the whole time."

He didn't understand why she was being so transparent with him. It was very out of character. Even when they'd dated and she was talking to someone she actually liked, she'd never talked about her feelings in this way.

"I never lied to you about being different," he said slowly. "Obviously, I'm not like the rest of the ghosts. But I never lied about caring for you either. That's the different part of me."

She looked at him through the reflection in the mirror. Her back was still towards him. "Yeah, well, being part human doesn't suddenly make you a saint."

There was a pause, and then, "And what's all this with caring about me and protecting me and stuff? You sure didn't seem to care that much when I first met you. Why would you want to put so much effort into me and then not even tell me the truth?"

The answer was on his lips. He wanted to tell her so badly. He wanted to tell her how much he really did care for her, how much it hurt him seeing her like this, maybe even how he sometimes wished they'd never stopped dating. He wanted to change back and spill his heart out to her and beg for her forgiveness.

It would be so easy. The transformation was like blinking. He could do it without even thinking. With no one watching except for her, all the cameras off and her helmet face down on the ground. He could make it happen.

And yet he couldn't. Shame of his cowardice burned at his face. Any response he could've given her got caught in his throat. He didn't have the words to explain to her. Only his actions could show her, but he was still too scared to even do that.

_Do you really even trust her then?_

When he didn't answer, Valerie turned to him with an eyebrow raised. "Well?"

He couldn't meet her eyes. "Please don't make me answer that," he said in little more than a whisper.

Through his bangs, he could see the emotions tumble across her face. Surprise, anger, realization, solemnity – they all flashed across in a moment. He knew her brain was hard at work, trying to reconcile his answer with a suitable explanation. He only felt more dismayed when she finally settled on hurt again.

"I know you, don't I?" she asked.

It almost wasn't a question. He knew that she already knew the answer. She needed to hear it from him, to confirm or deny it. He knew that she didn't want it to be real. She wanted him to tell her that she was wrong, that he was just some random kid she didn't even know existed.

And yet, he'd run out of lies to tell. His silence was answer enough.

"Oh my God," she muttered, burying her face in her hands. "Oh my God, I do. I know you. You're probably someone I sit in class with every day and I've been trying to kill you…"

The sudden turn toward self-blame snapped Danny out of his shame. "Don't even start with that. Look, you were right. It is my fault for not telling you, okay? I should've just come out with it at the very beginning and put a stop to it before it came to this." Once again, he found himself unable to stop talking even after having been silent a moment ago. "I should've told everyone at the very beginning. I shouldn't have tried to keep it a secret."

He couldn't help but think of his parents. He was supposed to have been home hours ago. Even if he was out late at night, he was usually home for dinner if he didn't have other plans. At this rate, he wouldn't be home for a long time. They'd be worried sick about him; it would've almost been easier if they knew.

Valerie, clever as she was, didn't miss the implications. "Does anyone else know?" she asked. Her voice was softening just a little. Still very much distressed and hurt, but not as bitter as it had been. Maybe the mini-revelation that they knew each other outside of ghost hunting had made it a little more real to her.

He took a breath. "Most of the ghosts know. Vlad does, obviously," he answered honestly. "Humans?" He shrugged as best as he could, trying to keep it a little casual. "Not many. Only a few." He didn't want to give her too many details. He wanted to hang on to his identity for however long he could.

Valerie pressed her back against the wall and slid down until she was sitting. She pulled her knees to her chest and hugged them. "Do they know, like, _who_ you are?" she asked.

Numbly, Danny nodded. He almost didn't have the energy to lie anymore. The exhaustion from the whole situation – getting captured, being 'interrogated,' dealing with Valerie – it was suddenly beginning to take a toll on him. He just wanted to go home and curl up in bed and sleep for a week and forget that everything was falling apart at the seams.

The silence stretched on. Valerie, arms wrapped around her legs and chin resting on her knees, stared at a spot on the opposite wall. Danny watched her a discreetly as he could, desperately wanting to know what she was thinking. _At least she's not yelling anymore_, he thought.

Of course, the silence was almost worse to deal with than her anger.

He wondered what the Guys in White were doing. He wondered if someone was on the other side of the mirror, watching the conversation play out to make sure they got the info they wanted. He wondered about the scientists that were probably frantically analyzing his DNA. Did they know what they would be condemning him to if they discovered the truth?

And what was Valerie going to do? Her helmet was still on the ground, face down. He assumed she never turned the recording equipment on; she was the kind of person who would want the answers for herself before even thinking about sharing them with someone else, especially someone like the Guys in White. As far as he knew, she didn't particularly care about siding with them, so to speak.

But they wouldn't take this sort of insubordination sitting down. The last thing Agent O had said echoed in his mind. They had something over her, some sort of blackmail maybe. Maybe it was her identity. Maybe it was her dad.

He shut his eyes. He was assuming that she was going to side with him on this. After all the hurt and anger she'd shown, how could he expect that of her? There was every possibility she would walk out of this room and spill the beans.

And yet she hadn't said anything about Dani. Or Vlad. She'd gone out of her way to protect Dani once she found out she was innocent. At the same time, she was clearly furious with Vlad and no doubt wanted to get him for what he'd done for her. In the end, it all depended on whether she believed in his good intentions or not.

He had no idea what she would do.

He took a deep breath. Before he could stop himself, he asked, "Do you want to know?"

Their eyes met. Hers were filled with an emotion he couldn't comprehend. He couldn't imagine the turmoil she was facing, having these kinds of revelations thrown on her so suddenly. It hadn't even been that long since they rescued Dani. He'd at least had a little more time to deal with these sorts of things, and he'd had Sam and Tucker (and Jazz, later on) to help him through it. She didn't have any sort of support system, not even her dad.

Suddenly, her expression steeled. She stood up and walked around to the back of his chair. It took him completely by surprise; he craned his neck to try and see her. "What are you doing?"

She didn't answer. He heard the telltale hum of a laser, and he immediately flinched. The pain didn't come, however. Instead, the bonds around his wrists suddenly fell away. He immediately brought his hands back around and massaged his sore wrists.

She circled back around. "Valerie, seriously, wha-" he began to ask, but he was cut off when she knelt down and used a laser in her gauntlet to cut through the bonds around his ankles.

For a moment, he couldn't even speak. She looked down at her boots, unable to look him in the eye. "You hurt me. A lot. You can't really change that, and I don't know if I'll be able to forgive you, at least for a while. I need time to think and go through it and stuff, but we don't really have that right now," she said, fidgeting with her gauntlet. She took a breath before continuing. "Even though part of me still wants to strangle you for lying to me, I kind of get it. I think. I don't know. But either way, these guys don't have the best of intentions, for you and for a lot of other people. I can't be a part of that. I just… can't."

Danny frowned. "What do you mean a lot of other people?"

She shook her head. "The specifics don't matter. You just gotta get rid of whatever they've got on you before they start doing something we'll regret."

It wouldn't be too difficult, he figured. The Guys in White had their security and all, but their scientists weren't known for their intimidation or defense. It would be a little tough to get over to their department (what with phase-proof walls and cameras designed to sense invisible ghosts), but if he turned human and then turned invisible, it might be enough to fool the cameras. As far as he knew, they only started tracking when they detected a certain amount of ectoplasm.

And Tucker had been able to hack into their network before. That had taken a while, and they might've updated their security since then, but Tucker was a whiz. He could get in, delete anything necessary, and get out without being noticed.

"Wait a minute, what about you?" he asked, the thought hitting him like a brick wall. "They were threatening you earlier; they're not gonna be very happy when they find out you freed me."

She kicked one of the shackles that had been around his ankles. "I didn't cut it in exactly a straight line. I'll tell them you broke through or something and that you shorted my helmet. I was lying about the recording stuff anyway," she admitted. "I'll say I couldn't fight back because I had to deactivate all my weapons and they wouldn't come back on in time. They'll believe me. They'll be mad, but they'll believe me. They already hate you enough anyway."

Danny grimaced. He hadn't thought that far ahead; he'd been more focused on Valerie and getting out of here. If the two of them really were able to pull this off, then the Guys in White would be gunning after both of them harder than ever. They could get rid of DNA, they could delete data, but they couldn't erase minds. He'd have to be on his guard even more.

And Valerie would have to be on her guard as well. She claimed they'd believe her, but he knew agents like O would still be suspicious. They'd watch her carefully. Not to mention the fact that she still had to pretend she didn't know anything about Vlad…

It wasn't fair. She hadn't done anything to deserve any of this. Burdened with all of this pressure, having to keep all these secrets, constantly having to worry about her life and her father's.

Sam would tell him he was being ridiculous. He had to deal with those sorts of things, too, she'd say, and arguably on a larger scale in some circumstances, but as he watched her face become more resolute with a sad solemnity, he couldn't help but wonder what would've happened if he'd been able to stop that dumb ghost dog all that time ago.

His crime was playing around his parent's portal and releasing all those new threats into his world. He was paying that price. Her crime had been nothing other than being a normal girl.

No wonder she hated him so much.

"And you're… you're okay with this?" he asked hesitantly.

Valerie rolled her tongue in her mouth. "I don't know. I'm sure I'll wake up in the morning and regret this. But…" she trailed off. He recognized the look on her face. She was thinking something, but she refused to say it out loud. She didn't want to admit whatever it was to him.

He saved her the awkward silence. "You're a good person, Val. Your heart is in the right place, I'm sure. It isn't fair that you got all this dumped on you so suddenly. I'm just really grateful you're willing to do this for me."

"Yeah, well," she said. She blew out a long breath. "You seriously owe me one after this."

He hadn't realized he made up his mind until she said that. "I'll tell you. Uh, my identity, that is," he said quickly before he could second guess himself. His stomach turned over and he could feel the ectoplasm rushing through his veins, but he felt sure that it was the right thing to do. "You deserve at least that much."

That earned him a look. She studied him for a moment before shaking her head. "No. Not right now. They're gonna question me about whatever happened in here; at least I can truthfully claim ignorance then. They'll know if I'm lying about your identity." Danny considered that, and he had to admit she had a point. His heart warmed at the thought that she would lie to protect him.

"Besides," she continued, "it's hard enough finding out that I know you for real. I don't think I can handle putting a name and face to that fact right now." He could tell that this was difficult for her to admit to him. "I guess it's like maybe if I don't know the whole truth, I can pretend the rest of the truth isn't real. Or that it's not as close to home. Ignorance is bliss and all."

Danny nodded. He knew he shouldn't be surprised – he thought she'd be demanding him to reveal himself by now – but her motives were understandable. It was odd, seeing her thinking things through like this and not jumping to conclusions or anger like she tended to do when it came to ghost stuff, but it was also incredibly encouraging. He almost wished he could show Sam and Tucker as proof that she could change.

She started to turn away, but he caught her hand. Her mouth opened, undoubtedly to tell him off, but she stopped herself. Danny hesitated a moment before saying, "Whenever you're ready then, okay? I'll tell you." She watched him with analytical, green eyes, and he instinctively looked away. "Besides, you might figure it out on your own or something."

Valerie didn't say anything, instead choosing to pull her wrist from his loose grip. From her belt, she pulled off a stick-like weapon. She pointed it toward her side and clicked a button, causing electricity to spark up the sides and hover dangerously over her suit.

Danny was taken aback. "Wait, what are you doing?"

"Not everything was deactivated," she told him, staring at a spot on the wall behind him. If she was worried about the electricity three inches away from her, she didn't show it. "Just chill. It's only set to stun, and it won't be that bad since I'm human. The important thing is the effects are similar to ecto-electrocution; they'll just think you jumped me and knocked me out."

His mouth open and closed like a fish. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. "I'm not gonna stand here and let you hurt yourself!" he protested.

She glared at him, but her the corners of her lips were twitching upward. "You don't get to tell me what to do, Phantom," she said.

Before he had time to say anything else, she closed her eyes and inhaled, steeling herself for what she was about to do. In one quick motion, she pressed the stick into her side, and electricity scattered across her suit. Danny reached out, but he couldn't find it in himself to say anything or even grab the stick away. He could only watch in dismay as her body shook with the shock, her curly hair becoming even frizzier and her teeth clacking together as they buzzed. It was only a couple of seconds before she dropped to the floor, unconscious.

He couldn't help but stare at her limp body. Every instinct was screaming at him to scoop her up and take her with him, but he gritted his teeth and took in one slow breath. He had to trust she knew what she was doing. She was more than capable of taking care of herself; he'd witnessed it firsthand. She'd be okay.

And if, for some reason, she wasn't…

"I'll come back for you," he promised her, more for his sake than anything.

Pushing away all thoughts of her, he swiped the taser-stick off the ground and set off in search of the research wing.

* * *

_I'm debating whether this is something I'll continue or not. If I do, updates will be very sporadic due to crazy college schedules and the fact that I'd like to try for long chapters like this._

_On a side note, I'm going to have to do some thinking with my other story, for those of you who are following it. It's been such a long time that I've forgotten where I was originally going with it sooooo I guess it's a valuable lesson in planning these things out? xD I just have to figure out the direction I'm going to take it, and then (hopefully) I can start updating that again, albeit inconsistently :P_

_Either way, leave a review with your thoughts! I did my best to keep them in character, so let me know if I was successful! And if you have any thoughts about where this could go I'd love to hear!_


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